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Might restorative justice principles improve drug courts?

I'm a supporter of drug court programs, but I also believe they shouldn't be immune from criticism and all such diversion programs should be constantly, rigorously tested for effectiveness. So I was interested to see a couple of recent items on the topic that collectively describe the pros and cons of this increasingly popular (even faddish) approach to adjudicating drug cases.The Houston Chronicle last week ran a feature ("Drug courts turn addicts around," March 17) on Harris County's drug court program claiming higher success rates than the national average:[Program director Mary] Covington said national data show that 43.5 percent of drug offenders are re-arrested a year after release. Nationally, Covington said, 16.4 percent of drug court graduates have been convicted of new felony offenses within a year, compared to 6 percent of Harris County?s drug court graduates...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on March 23, 2009 (boomark / email).